Aotearoa- New Zealand -Kia Ora, Tena Koutou,Haere Mai From the Land of the long white cloud.

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11,170

we have an adult hedgehog living under the house

now why i am posting this is,because he does appear to be sick, i thought maybe he had mange, as he has a few prickles missing and this grey caked looking mud, i emailed my vet for advice, and he rang me, he also said it can be a zinc deficiency which is common in hedgehogs or it could be mange, so cat biscuits and food are great for him, he is drinking lots of water, and he is so cute when he cannot get to the bottom of the water he puts his foot on the edge holds it down so he can drink it.

He was so thirsty the other day he drank 3/4 of a margerine container in size all at one go, i do think he is better as yesterday i had not seen him/her all day long and then when he/her came out they saw me and scuttled away under the house, so i am leaving some food daily for it.

The house is insulated underneath with a black plastic type material,so it should be quite warm and very sheltered for the hedgehog.

My vet did say we can inject the hedgehog with imovac for the mange if it is that, and only a donation required, of course getting him is the hard bit, however i was told just to keep an eye on him/her and see if there is improvement and if not to bring him/her in.

These are the big brown hedgehogs we have in NZ, so wish me luck,any experience with looking after them and advice always taken on board, thanks.

Have fun at the Rainbow Bridge,Zara,Rusty, Juliette ,Romeo,sweet Tessa,wee stray and Harvey you all will never be forgotten.

Furangels only lent.
RIP my gorgeous Sooti, taken from us far too young, we miss your beautiful face and purssonality,take care of Ash for us, love you xx000

RIP my beautiful Ash,your pawprints are forever in my heart, love and miss you so much my big boy. (very special thanks to Alysser for my cute siggy)

RIP my sweet gorgeous girl Ellie-Mae, a little battler to the end, you will never ever be forgotten, your little soul is forever in my heart, my thoughts, my memories, my love for you will never die, Love you my darling little precious girl.

RIP lil Benson the Hedgehog, came in to our lives suddenly and for a short time ,but you were loved and cared for and missed.

Awww, any pictures? No advice, as we have no native hedgehogs here in New England, the closest we have are porcupines, which are NOT good pets, and are generally shy anyway, and so big they'd not fit well under a house!

Aotearoa- New Zealand -Kia Ora, Tena Koutou,Haere Mai From the Land of the long white cloud.

Posts

11,170

i will try and get a pic, but he is looking a tad worse for wear, no sign of him today, we are calling it a him and benson, hubby chose his name lol, we had a baby one a while back, but it disappeared, not sure if he will come out until later on in the day or evening, i will try get a pic as would like to send it to the vet, the first day i could get right up to him and even put food in front of him and he would not even curl up, so i think he is much better as he is running away now, i noticed the water bowl was tipped over later this morning, so it might have been him or rascal nikkita, but have re filled it, i need to get something a bit heavier,so it does not tip as he is very thirsty, at least he is not de-hyrdrated now, there are not that many slugs or snails around as i dont have much garden, mostly a rockery in the courtyard, but we do have some compost and i have seen a few snails, so hopefully he is getting other food as well. no idea how much a hedgehog eats??

Have fun at the Rainbow Bridge,Zara,Rusty, Juliette ,Romeo,sweet Tessa,wee stray and Harvey you all will never be forgotten.

Furangels only lent.
RIP my gorgeous Sooti, taken from us far too young, we miss your beautiful face and purssonality,take care of Ash for us, love you xx000

RIP my beautiful Ash,your pawprints are forever in my heart, love and miss you so much my big boy. (very special thanks to Alysser for my cute siggy)

RIP my sweet gorgeous girl Ellie-Mae, a little battler to the end, you will never ever be forgotten, your little soul is forever in my heart, my thoughts, my memories, my love for you will never die, Love you my darling little precious girl.

RIP lil Benson the Hedgehog, came in to our lives suddenly and for a short time ,but you were loved and cared for and missed.

Aotearoa- New Zealand -Kia Ora, Tena Koutou,Haere Mai From the Land of the long white cloud.

Posts

11,170

ok an update on the hedgehog, i have been feeding him on a regular basis and making sure he had fresh water daily, as was very thirsty and it is very hot here in NZ at the moment, we are having a late summer, supposed to be autumn now and a drought upon us, not good.anyhow to cut a long story short, i had not seen him out during the day much, but he was eating all his biscuits, until two days ago, he was not looking good so i decided to capture him, a very easy task and whisk him off to the vets.

Anyhow it seems he has infected dermatitis and so he was given ivomac and an antibiotic injection i also have to give him daily antibiotics in his water daily, so he is now in a pen, that i borrowed from my friend and living in the laundry, which is not ideal for us, as it is our front door and very small, so i have to move him out to use the washing machine as that would really scare him.

He is still very wobbly and after the treatment did not seem at all well, this morning i found him lying on his back feet in the air and i thought the worst, but no he was ok, but worried about him being like that and not being able to turn over,i have a heat pad in there for him, but he insists on sitting on the bit that is not heated, i have been in touch with the rescue lady and she has given me advice, say's i am doing everything right and you can only hope for the best.
There is no improvement as such on his skin, so i am not sure if our BENSON will live, but we are doing our best, any advice or experience with wild hedgehogs is appreciated.

I probably have to take him back for two further injections of imovac for the mange, however i read on the internet it can kill them sometimes, so confused and the vet never said anything like that, not that they are very experienced with dealing with hedgehogs.

And benson may well be a girl, so bessy if so, lol.

Have fun at the Rainbow Bridge,Zara,Rusty, Juliette ,Romeo,sweet Tessa,wee stray and Harvey you all will never be forgotten.

Furangels only lent.
RIP my gorgeous Sooti, taken from us far too young, we miss your beautiful face and purssonality,take care of Ash for us, love you xx000

RIP my beautiful Ash,your pawprints are forever in my heart, love and miss you so much my big boy. (very special thanks to Alysser for my cute siggy)

RIP my sweet gorgeous girl Ellie-Mae, a little battler to the end, you will never ever be forgotten, your little soul is forever in my heart, my thoughts, my memories, my love for you will never die, Love you my darling little precious girl.

RIP lil Benson the Hedgehog, came in to our lives suddenly and for a short time ,but you were loved and cared for and missed.

Aotearoa- New Zealand -Kia Ora, Tena Koutou,Haere Mai From the Land of the long white cloud.

Posts

11,170

Thanks I think benson is gonna need those prayers.

here is a couple of pics of Benson, not very good ones, but you can see close up around his face does not look too healthy, and also you can see the grey caked mud looking type stuff on is back in the second pic, which is the dermatitis.

He only seems to be eating once a day at the moment, and he did drink quite a bit today, which is great as he is getting his meds, his antibiotics through his water, so fingers crossed, he is still very wobbly,and is determined not to sleep on the heating pad, so i just have to hope for the best, i am not sure he will make it, but we can only but try.

Attached Thumbnails

Last edited by carole; 03-15-2013 at 06:03 AM.

Have fun at the Rainbow Bridge,Zara,Rusty, Juliette ,Romeo,sweet Tessa,wee stray and Harvey you all will never be forgotten.

Furangels only lent.
RIP my gorgeous Sooti, taken from us far too young, we miss your beautiful face and purssonality,take care of Ash for us, love you xx000

RIP my beautiful Ash,your pawprints are forever in my heart, love and miss you so much my big boy. (very special thanks to Alysser for my cute siggy)

RIP my sweet gorgeous girl Ellie-Mae, a little battler to the end, you will never ever be forgotten, your little soul is forever in my heart, my thoughts, my memories, my love for you will never die, Love you my darling little precious girl.

RIP lil Benson the Hedgehog, came in to our lives suddenly and for a short time ,but you were loved and cared for and missed.

Aotearoa- New Zealand -Kia Ora, Tena Koutou,Haere Mai From the Land of the long white cloud.

Posts

11,170

well Pat i just could not leave him to suffer, i could see he was sick, everything deserves to live, and if we can help it to survive then i will do the best i possibly can, the lady from the hedgehog rescue rang me and really helped my confidence in taking care of him, as i know nothing about them really,i did my research on line too, but that can also be a bit confusing, she said i was doing everything right, just had to make sure he was warmer as they can get hypothermia so easily especially when sick, and that is one of the reasons he is wobbly, so i had the cats heating pad i have never used, so putting it to good use ,if only benson would sit on it, still it does tend to give the whole cage warmth and he was surviving outside, and the nights here are getting cooler, and the mornings, but plenty of heat during the day,so he has to be better than when he was outside, he has meds now and warmth, he did have water and food though as i has started caring for him a week ago.

Yes just have to keep those fingers crossed he will get well and we can release him back in to the wild.

Must be so stressful for him really, hearing all the noises he is not used to, i try to not bother him and keep noise levels around him down, but it is not easy in a small house, and tomorrow i need to get hubby to shift him in to the hallway so i can do the washing, as it will be very scarey for him when the washing machine goes on spin.

yep gonna need a lot of luck i think for him to survive, but we shall try our hardest.

Have fun at the Rainbow Bridge,Zara,Rusty, Juliette ,Romeo,sweet Tessa,wee stray and Harvey you all will never be forgotten.

Furangels only lent.
RIP my gorgeous Sooti, taken from us far too young, we miss your beautiful face and purssonality,take care of Ash for us, love you xx000

RIP my beautiful Ash,your pawprints are forever in my heart, love and miss you so much my big boy. (very special thanks to Alysser for my cute siggy)

RIP my sweet gorgeous girl Ellie-Mae, a little battler to the end, you will never ever be forgotten, your little soul is forever in my heart, my thoughts, my memories, my love for you will never die, Love you my darling little precious girl.

RIP lil Benson the Hedgehog, came in to our lives suddenly and for a short time ,but you were loved and cared for and missed.

Aotearoa- New Zealand -Kia Ora, Tena Koutou,Haere Mai From the Land of the long white cloud.

Posts

11,170

Thank you pat well another night gone and still with us ate all his biscuits and was worried as had not done a poop,but yep done that too lol,so maybe just maybe things are looking better,here's hoping ,cage is lovely and warm and he won't sleep on the side where the heating pad is,so he must be warm enough,those prayers must be working.

Have fun at the Rainbow Bridge,Zara,Rusty, Juliette ,Romeo,sweet Tessa,wee stray and Harvey you all will never be forgotten.

Furangels only lent.
RIP my gorgeous Sooti, taken from us far too young, we miss your beautiful face and purssonality,take care of Ash for us, love you xx000

RIP my beautiful Ash,your pawprints are forever in my heart, love and miss you so much my big boy. (very special thanks to Alysser for my cute siggy)

RIP my sweet gorgeous girl Ellie-Mae, a little battler to the end, you will never ever be forgotten, your little soul is forever in my heart, my thoughts, my memories, my love for you will never die, Love you my darling little precious girl.

RIP lil Benson the Hedgehog, came in to our lives suddenly and for a short time ,but you were loved and cared for and missed.

Aotearoa- New Zealand -Kia Ora, Tena Koutou,Haere Mai From the Land of the long white cloud.

Posts

11,170

Thanks seems to be holding his own,cleaned out the cage,I transfer him to a cat cage while I change the newspaper,water etc,he felt nice and warm,he is so cute,he started sniffing my gloves,he is in the hallway now so I can do the washing but think we shall leave him there as I cannot lift the cage every time with my injured shoulder,and with all the doors closed lovely and dark,took the shredded paper out as was getting in the water,he has a polar fleece blanket,and he is snuggled under the newspaper and on the heat pad at long last.
Have to take him back to vets for two more shots of imovac.

He has a good chance,he now has warmth,and meds and can't get fly blown,so way better odds than before

Have fun at the Rainbow Bridge,Zara,Rusty, Juliette ,Romeo,sweet Tessa,wee stray and Harvey you all will never be forgotten.

Furangels only lent.
RIP my gorgeous Sooti, taken from us far too young, we miss your beautiful face and purssonality,take care of Ash for us, love you xx000

RIP my beautiful Ash,your pawprints are forever in my heart, love and miss you so much my big boy. (very special thanks to Alysser for my cute siggy)

RIP my sweet gorgeous girl Ellie-Mae, a little battler to the end, you will never ever be forgotten, your little soul is forever in my heart, my thoughts, my memories, my love for you will never die, Love you my darling little precious girl.

RIP lil Benson the Hedgehog, came in to our lives suddenly and for a short time ,but you were loved and cared for and missed.